The Kneeshaw Family

We've moved

2011-07-27T20:01:00.001-06:00

Here is our new blog site: k5adventures.wordpress.com

See you there!!!

My husband loves me....

2011-07-18T18:29:00.004-06:00

We have a horse, more accurately I have a horse. His name is Coppertop. He is a Welsh X liver chestnut medium sized pony. He is trained (kinda) as a hunter jumper. We, me and my trainer at the barn, have been working with him for almost a year. Over the past several months he has required medical attention due to a tumor on his boy parts. Kinda funny and really sad! Poor guy had to have a good portion of his boy parts removed, not to worry he can still pee, as for other functions...well he's a gelding so he has never had a need for that activity. We took him about five weeks ago for his first surgery to UT Knoxville. Copper stayed for a couple nights and we went back to pick him up, not a huge deal but painful for the guy.

The icky part is he has been swelling on his stomach and boy parts since the surgery. So I have been doing the equivalent of cold compresses and light exercise to help reduce the swelling. Now there is good news and bad news. Good news: the swelling is almost all the way gone! Bad news: we take him back this Wednesday to remove more lymph nodes, which means more driving, more pain, and MORE swelling!!! This time the surgery is very simple and will be done on an outpatient basis, so we get to bring him back home with us.

In summary: I have a horse, he is a great jumper, I love him a whole lot, most importantly Kurt LOVES me a whole lot because he puts up with my obsession with animals!!!

Facts About Jonah's Diagnosis

2011-07-11T09:41:00.002-06:00

Jonah has a rare disorder called Sept-Optic-Dysplasia. There are no known causes for this disorder which occurs in utero as the baby is developing. Septo-optic dysplasia (SOD) is also known as de Morsier syndrome, named after Swiss neurologist Georges de Morsier, who was the first to identify this congenital - which means present from birth - malformation that is characterised by a triad of 'symptoms' affecting the midline of the brain.

1. Underdeveloped optic nerves
The human eye contains around one million optic nerve bundles. SOD sufferers range in their vision capability, from being completely blind, to having only somewhat diminished vision. As Jonah Tyler is unable to verbalize how much he can see yet, we do not know for sure ho much vision he has. It is evident his vision is best up close and in the center of his visual field. He will be classified as legally blind the rest of his life. Jonah has nystagmus, which is the rapid horizontal movement of the eyes, almost as if they were 'vibrating'. This is the biggest outward sign that Jonah has limited vision. This condition is very common in people with SOD. Underdeveloped (hypoplastic) optic nerves cannot be corrected by surgery or medication, due to no abnormalities with his eyes, corrective lenses would not improve his vision.

2. Missing portion of the corpus calloscum.
The corpus calloscum is the bridge that connects the two hemispheres of the brain. Jonah is missing the front portion of this bridge thus making it more difficult for the two sides of his brain to communicate. The encouraging part of this is that the brain is able to form new connections through alternative neural pathways. Jonah's therapies and daily activities at home with us facilitate these new connections.

3. Hormone deficiencies (hypopituitarism)
Like the optic nerve chasm, and the corpus calloscum, the pituitary (hormone) functions are also found on the midline of the brain. It affects 70% of SOD cases. The hormone most commonly missing in SOD children and adults is the growth hormone. Jonah Tyler is tested regularly to ensure he has normal hormone function, he is thankfully not presenting with any deficiencies yet.

No one knows what cause Septo Optic Dysplasia. 1% of cases are genetic, and there are four gene mutations causing that 1% that we know of, with more being discovered every day. Jonah will be visiting a genetic doctor in the next several weeks to rule out a genetic cause. It is a highly variable condition. Children like Jonah Tyler have developmental delays, such as delayed gross motor skills and speech. There may also be cognitive impairment, thus far Jonah's doctors and therapists do not see any signs of this at this point. Kurt and I do not either, he is very bright and eager to learn new things. Autism is affecting around 30% of Septo Optic Dysplasia cases, other great news is that Jonah is not exhibiting any autistic behaviors. He loves to engage with others, especially his brother and sister.

Summer Birthdays are fun because...

2011-07-10T20:15:00.008-06:00

1. Ice Cream can be substituted for cake.

2. Water play is a great (cheap) form of entertainment for kids of any age.

3. You don't have to invite ALL the kids in your class, just your close friends.

4. When your kids are older a weekend getaway can be used to get out of throwing a birthday party.

5. Cleaning up outside is a breeze.

How many specialists can we see in one week?

2011-06-14T19:19:00.002-06:00

answer: four! Yep, four visits to specialists this week with our little guy.

Monday morning Jonah and I drove 45 minutes (due to traffic) to see a new dermatologist who actually looked at Jonah's skin. I know it seems obvious that a skin doctor would look at my child's skin, however our last dermatologist NEVER did this. The new derma. also talked to me about what I can do to help manage his eczema break outs, on top of all that she told me flare ups would happen no matter what we did=no more guilt. In summary this appointment was well worth the 45 minute drive.

Wednesday morning we will be getting the results of Jonah Tyler's MRI. Honestly I am terrified, crying every time I think about it. Normally I avoid crying altogether so I am pretty freaked out. We have met the neurologist before, he's the best, so hopefully it won't be as traumatic as I'm envisioning.

Thursday is what I refer to as Therapy day. Unfortunately it isn't therapy for me, it's PT and OT for Jonah. This week we will be getting a walker to bring home for him to use. I cannot wait to see him using it to walk around our house! Every Thursday we get to see a therapy dog while we are there. Oddly enough Jonah gets way more excited about seeing the dogs at pediatric rehab than our four beasts at home.

Friday morning, very very early, we head to Michigan to see Kurt's family.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

2011-06-10T12:16:00.004-06:00

Hannah is 8 years old!!!! Hannah's birthday is just four days after Micah's, and Jonah's birthday is 20 days after hers. June is a busy month for us.

As the only girl Hannah feels the need to fully embrace all things pink, pretty, and girly. She is way more girly than I ever was, which Grandma enjoys since now she can finally buy flowery pink things for someone. Hannah is our attention seeker. She loves to perform, talk, and the focus of everyone around her. However when asked to tell a joke or sing in front of other people she gets nervous.

Here is baby Hannah at four years old in pink with her baby doll. It is crazy how much she has grown.

Hannah has beauty and brains she is just more interested in the beauty part of herself right now. She loves having her hair done, going shopping, getting her nails painted, and playing with dolls. She is very smart with a knack for remembering names and events. For example she is able to tell us all the first and last names of her classmates as well as their brothers and sisters, likes and dislikes, pets, and favorite activities. While Hannah excels at school, she does not stay interested in one thing for very long. This has enabled her to learn lots about everything. She earned straight A's this year and had great behavior!!! We are very proud of her.

She loves animals, we call her our dog whisperer because she enjoys teaching the dogs new tricks. She likes riding and brushing our horse Coppertop. Her favorite activity this summer has been cheerleading. She attended a camp a couple of weeks ago. She will be cheering for football this fall. She is going to have a lot of fun, especially because she will have a skirt and pompoms. When Hannah has the desire to do well at something nothing can stop her.

Hannah is a great sister to Micah and Jonah. She will play sports with Micah as long as he plays dolls with her sometimes too. She loves to help take care of Jonah. Making him laugh is her favorite. Hannah is super sweet and cuddly. I love that she wants to grow up to be like me and loves having Mommy and Hannah time. She enjoys helping me pick out outfits to wear on dates with her Dad.

We are excited to see what the next year brings for Hannah. We are very blessed to have her as our daughter. Love you, Bug!!!

Happy Birthday Micah!!

2011-06-05T14:02:00.007-06:00

Today Micah is 10 years old!!!

Micah is our oldest. He is an amazing gift from God that we are grateful for each and every day. God has blessed him with many wonderful gifts. He is very athletic, excelling in every physical activity on the planet. Micah has a great arm, runs super fast, and practices hard to get better at the sports he loves. Soccer and basketball are his favorite. Being the type A kid he is, he has a practice schedule that he developed for the summer to improve his endurance. He runs up and down the street each day to be ready for fall sports. This year he is giving football a try. We are confident that he will do an excellent job.

While many people admire his athletic ability, his heart also stands out from other boys his age. Micah desires to put others first the majority of the time. For example, today for his birthday dinner he gave me two options to choose from so that I could have the one I liked best. A couple months ago Kurt was out of town and I was trying to get Jonah in bed after dinner when Micah's love for me shown through. I came downstairs once Jonah was asleep to find all of the dinner dishes done, leftovers put away in the fridge, and all of Jonah's toys clean up. After I hugged him, Micah said he thought I needed some help with everything tonight. Super sweet!!!
Here is baby Micah! He was six years old here, so cute!!!

Micah will even allow his little sister to boss him around, so that she doesn't get in trouble. He is Hannah and Jonah's favorite playmate. Micah is eager to learn new things by visiting museums, reading, or helping with projects at home. He brainstorms ideas for how to help orphans in Ethiopia and hopes to raise money to buy toys for orphanages. We know that he can do anything God gives him the desire to do. Micah has shown how the darkness of this world can be overcome with a Christ filled heart.

Micah's favorite things:
Playing outside
Traveling (to San Diego)
Basketball
Soccer
Any sports
Reading
Social Studies
Math
Cheetahs
Tigers
Bella (our Great Dane)
Buffalo Chicken Salad
Hot Dogs
Root Beer
Church

Micah has developed a great sense of humor. We took this so it would look like he was peeing on the corn, I assure you he is not actually peeing. He did go through a phase when peeing outside was very exciting, however that has kinda of passed.

We love you Micah!!!

OT, PT, TEIS, and CP

2011-05-10T13:14:00.005-06:00

Since I have been out of the special education world for the last five years I had forgotten about all the acronyms. In the last month I have been reintroduced to them. Now I will do a quick lesson for those who are unaware what all these letters stand for and how they relate to my Jonah Tyler.

OT-Occupational Therapy. Jonah goes here for an hour per week to work on daily life skills and sensory integration. Favorites: the swing and being squeezed between pillows or mats. Dislikes: playing with slimy foods and working on his upper body strength.

PT-Physical Therapy. Also attends one hour per week to work on gross motor skills. Favorites: giant ball and singing songs. Dislikes: squats and sit-ups. *He has Ankle Foot Orthopedics (AFOs) he wears all day and will be getting a theratog (super suit) in the next week. He has begun using a walker at therapy, don't have one ordered for home yet.

TEIS-Tennessee Early Intervention. One hour a week at our house to assist with at home interventions and resources in the community. Favorites: New toys to play with. Dislikes: when the toys leave at the end of the hour.

CP-Cerebral Palsy. This is the tentative diagnosis for Jonah Tyler right now. Our neurologist was the first to say this to use last week when he completed a neurological assessment on Jonah. We have an MRI for him on June 2nd. This will show how much brain damage he has as a result of an illness he had at 6 months old. His left side is the most impacted, therefore we are expecting to see damage to his right hemisphere.

Spring

2011-04-10T19:30:00.004-06:00

Spring is finally here! Being a Southern California girl I love the sun! I have been outside trying to get my tan back every chance I get. Thankfully I have three kids that love the sun as much as I do. Micah has been playing basketball in our driveway and soccer in the backyard. Hannah has been riding her bike and hanging out with a neighborhood friend. Jonah hangs out with me on the grass or driveway watching playing catch or investigating all the new sights.

Jonah is fascinated by the weather. This is due to being stuck inside an orphanage. He loves being rained on. He will fight me when I am trying to get him in the car in the rain. He tries to get his hand or face out to feel it falling on him. In the wind he turns into Kate Winslet in Titantic with both arms stretched out and a grin on his face. I need to snap a picture it is really the perfect impression of her.

Here are some various pictures from the last couple of weeks.

I would like a plan please!

2011-03-30T12:16:00.003-06:00

The last six weeks have been filled with numerous doctor appointments and therapy sessions for Jonah Tyler. We have gone to all of these in an effort to determine what is going on with him. While he is a sweet, loving, smart baby, he is just slightly behind on the developmental curve. The great news is we are getting more answers with each appointment we go on and he is making lots of progress. He is a very determined little guy! We have the majority of the services he needs set up on a weekly schedule, this allows me to easily plan the rest of our week.

All of us are enjoying watching him learn new things. Micah and Hannah had fun teaching him to say "A-cho" and "bye." He is our picky eater which can be challenging at times. The good thing is he will try anything twice then you'll probably never get him to eat it again. He is sleeping great, sometimes falling asleep before we're ready for him to. He has enjoyed a couple rides on our Great Dane and likes to feed the dogs the food he doesn't want. We are blessed by him! Each night as we watch him fall asleep we are reminded of God's promises and love for Jonah and us.

Simplify

2011-03-06T14:01:00.003-06:00

I am thankful to have my grandmother and mother's gene for ridding my house of clutter. Just as their husbands were not so excited about the idea of them going through the house with boxes and garbage bags, Kurt is not either. Last night when I told him I was going to clean out the butler's pantry he stood and watched to make sure I didn't get rid of something important. THis morning I conquered Hannah's bathroom cabinets which were full of hair supplies (go figure). Both of my older kids are used to my rampages so they avoid get too attached to anything in the house. Hannah was very helpful today. She cleaned out baby food containers to use as organizers for her numerous hair ties.
The sudden urge to clean out our house comes from feeling overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we have that we NEVER use. Really why do I need a bunch of candle holders, picture frames, cloth place mats, clothes, etc. It is all very unnecessary. My goal in this house wide purge is to have a garage sale in which I earn money for things I do care about such as family activities and vacations.

I hope to post before and after pics. Although I forgot a before pic with Hannah's cabinet, here is after the mass of hair products were tamed.

Loss

2011-02-27T14:33:00.002-06:00

Loss is a huge part of adoption. Most people tend to think of adoption as only a good thing, which it is, but there are losses when an adoption occurs. There is loss for the biological family of the child because they will no longer have a relationship with their child (at least in the case of my kids). The new parents suffer the loss of missing out on part of that child's life. For our oldest two we missed a large chunk of their lives. With the arrival of Jonah, Micah and Hannah have been dealing with some grief issues. Last night at dinner we had a mini therapy session with them to work through these issues. It is difficult as a parent to see your children so sad because they are missing something that we cannot get back for them. Baby pictures are a big deal to them, they are very upset that we don't have any of them. Another since of loss comes from the experiences Kurt and I are having with Jonah that we missed out on with them. On top of these issues they are struggling with the fact that Jonah is almost the same age Elijah would have been had he lived. It is making their hearts ache for their baby brother.

In the middle of our sorrow I am thankful we can turn to God to walk with us. I mourn the losses that our family has gone through at the same time I have peace in knowing that in Christ we have eternal life. As we told the kids last night, all of this pain and sorrow will be gone in heaven. One day we all will see the "video" of Micah and Hannah before they were with us, we will hold and play with Elijah just as we do with Jonah now. One day our bruised and broken hearts will be made whole again when we are united with our Savior.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven-Matthew 5:12

Toddler Craziness

2011-02-10T16:55:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. We have been spending lots of time hanging out as a family. Jonah Tyler is an amazing new addition. He adores his older brother and sister, has fun with his Daddy, but loves his Mommy the best!

Many of you are going to laugh at me but taking care of a toddler is a lot of work! Kurt and I are both exhausted most of the time. Here some of the ways our lives have changed:
1. No more sleeping in on Saturdays
2. Our clothes have snot, drool, and various other things on them.
3. Home is the easiest place to be
4. Dogs no longer freely roam the house
5. Toys in the living room, kitchen, and bonus room
6. Have gotten very familiar with the baby section at Target
7. It takes at least 10 min to get ready to leave the house
8. Kids music playing in the car
9. In love with a stroller and ergo
10. If I get one thing done on my list in a day, I'm doing good.

With all that to say, we would not change a thing. Last Sunday in church we had Jonah Tyler with us. Kurt and I were both in tears thinking about how just a couple weeks ago we were praying for him to be with us. God's hand has been on Jonah Tyler's adoption since the beginning. We are so thankful for our three amazing gifts from Ethiopia.

We are leaving!!!!

2011-01-21T14:01:00.002-06:00

We got word this morning that we have been approved to travel!!! We leave tonight for D.C. then on to Ethiopia in the morning. This is beyond short notice!!! A friend told me we would find out at the eleventh hour and she was right. Thank you for all of your prayers. We are looking forward to introducing you to Jonah Tyler. Thankfully we had family on stand-by so the house, kids, and dogs will be well taken care of.

Seriously?

2011-01-19T13:42:00.004-06:00

Lately I have noticed that I say "Seriously?" quite a bit. When my kids do something stupid...seriously? When another snow day is called....seriously? When the dogs get mud all over my kitchen floor....seriously? When we received no news from the US Embassy on Tuesday of this week...seriously?

While some members of my family may get annoyed with my use of this word, I think it accurately reflects my feelings at that moment. Sometimes "seriously?" is addressed to a particular person such as a child who forgets to put on their shoes for school other times it is directed at God. When directed at the Creator it is a condensed version of "Really another thing is going wrong? I would like something to go right, please."

Reasons I like the word:
1. Is not and does not sound like a bad word
2. Can be directed at myself or someone else
3. Makes me feel better

So when Tuesday ended with no travel approval, you can guess who "Seriously?" was directed at...God and the US Embassy. We would very much like some GOOD NEWS this week. Needless to say my stress level is very high which is good for my waist line (I've lost 10 pounds) but bad for my sanity.

I am thankful for everyone praying for us and the donations we have received to take to Ethiopia when we do go.

A Rough Week

2011-01-13T16:51:00.003-06:00

This week has been very hard on me. On Wednesday my Grandfather passed away, leaving my heart with a hole that won't be filled until I see him again in heaven. He was a spunky caring man who always put his family first. It is difficult knowing that I can't just pick up the phone and call him. Over the past ten years him and I had developed a special bond that I will miss greatly.

We are awaiting clearance from the US Embassy to travel to get Jonah Tyler. This could come anytime before next Friday, which is when we would have to leave. We are praying for an Embassy date of Jan 25th. Your prayers are appreciated.

Good News

2011-01-06T08:53:00.002-06:00

On Monday evening we received a phone call from our case worker, Ben, way after office hours. He told us that the CWAE office received the new more detailed police report the Embassy had requested. They are actively translating it and getting our documents prepared to be submitted to the US Embassy on 1/11!!! If our paperwork is okay we could travel for our agency's next Embassy date on 1/25. This puts us leaving on 1/21!!! YAY!!! We are optimistic that those dates will work out and Jonah will be in our arms by the end of January. Please continue to pray that he remains healthy and safe, as well as for an Embassy date of 1/25/11.

Feeling Defeated

2011-01-03T15:33:00.002-06:00

When I woke up this morning I was hopeful that we would get good news about our Embassy Date. It is now the end of business for our agency...a whole lotta nothing!!!! I am upset because we have not heard anything about our son or his case in two weeks. My feelings are a mixture of anxiousness, concern, anger, and sadness. We would like to know what is going on and where his case stands, most of all we want him home safe with us.

I could go on and on about how bummed out I"m feeling right now, instead I will post some pics of our boy.

Joy Amid the Sorrow

2010-12-23T20:03:00.002-06:00

As we were catching up on our Advent Calendar tonight God reminded me about a little thing called Joy. The devotional talked about lighting the candle tonight to remember the Joy that it is almost Jesus' birthday. When Jesus was born, Joy came back into our world. It may sound easy to be Joyful in ALL things, it most definitely is not! In the midst of tragedy it is hard to remember that we live for the promise of heaven.

This week I have had a hard time being joyful. As I mentioned briefly in my last post, there are some issues with the US Embassy in Ethiopia approving families for Embassy dates. Essentially all adoptions in Ethiopia have come to a standstill because the US Embassy has changed their paperwork requirements. They are now requiring more detailed documentation about how the children came into the custody of the original orphanage. To get the necessary paperwork agencies have to go back to the small towns all over Ethiopia where most of the orphanages are and get more documentation. We were praying that Jonah would not be part of that requirement. On Wednesday we found out they are requesting more details about his case as well. Now we are relying on the local officials in a town several hours from the capital city to get the documents we need.

I have a number of fears rising up in my heart. So, today I decided that rather than dwell in fear I would live in JOY! We had an amazing day preparing for Christmas as a family. Hannah and I spent time at the horse barn riding Coppertop, which always puts me in a good mood. I worked on organizing Jonah's room and washed his clothes in an effort to remind myself that he is coming home. I am also going to print out his birth certificate and put it on the fridge so I can see the proof that yes he is ours.

Continue to pray that he will be home with us soon and our hearts will be filled with Joy as we wait.

God is bigger than the Boogie Man

2010-12-21T19:42:00.003-06:00

I have struggled with anxiety my whole life. I worry about everything from feeling inadequate as a mom, wife, daughter, and professional to fearing a tragedy will take away someone I love. My anxiety peaked on August 7th, 2009 when I learned that I was going to die if I did not deliver an under developed Elijah. At that moment I told the doctor, do whatever you have to my kids at home cannot lose another mom. That is the only day I can recall that the peace of God coming upon me as intensely and immediately that all anxiety left my body.

The past two weeks I have been reminding myself over and over that yes God is Bigger than the Boogie Man in hopes that the anxiety will lessen. I flew to San Diego two weeks ago after buying a plane ticket an hour before the flight was departing because my Grandfather was in the ICU. After my week long stay my grandfather improved enough to get out of ICU, he is still in the hospital due to surgical complications. Four days after getting back home I got sick. After four doctors appts and a trip to the ER I am starting to feel better six days later. In the midst of this chaos I have been finishing finals.

Today while checking blogs I saw that two of the families from our agency, CWA, have been told they will not be traveling next week for their Embassy appointments. The US Embassy has required more paperwork from the original orphanage. It is unclear when they will get this paperwork and therefore when these families will be able to go get their kids. I can feel my anxiety rising as I write this...just remember "God is Bigger than the Boogie Man."

Here are my updated prayer requests:

1. God to take away my anxiety.
2. We will get an Embassy Date of Jan 11, 2011
3. Healing for my Grandfather and peace for my Mom.
4. For the other families with kids waiting for them in ET that they will travel to go get them soon.
5. Micah and Hannah will be reminded of our love for them.

Thank you!

He is ours and waiting in Ethiopia

2010-12-13T13:11:00.003-06:00

Well it is official. As of November 24th Jonah Tyler Agegnehu Kneeshaw is ours!!!! YAY!!! We are super excited about having a baby boy in the family. However we had to leave him in Ethiopia to await our Embassy Date.

Many of you ask why we couldn't just bring him home. Here is why:

1. He needs a Birth Certificate to prove we are his parents. This is issued by Ethiopia. We are praying CWAE receives this soon.
2. Next he needs a passport...not a US one but an Ethiopian passport so he can leave Ethiopia and get into the US. This usually comes a couple days after his birth certificate.
3. He needs another physical and TB test.
4. All of the above documentation is submitted to the US Embassy in Ethiopia.
5. We get a date to appear in front of the US Embassy. Our agency has dates every other Tuesday.

We have found out that we will not have the next available date of Dec 28th. While we are bummed about this, we are a little relieved that we won't be away from Micah and Hannah on Christmas. Plus airline tickets are super expensive right now so waiting until January will save us some money.

Prayer Requests:

1. Jonah Tyler's birth certificate arrives at the CWAE offices soon.
2. Our US Embassy Date will be on Jan 11th (1/11/11=a cool date :))
3. Jonah Tyler will be safe and healthy while he waits for us to come get him.

Here are some pictures of our little guy. The first one is one of the first pictures we saw of him almost a year ago when he was six months old.

"Hurry up! I'm bored!"

He is excited about coming home soon.

In just five days....

2010-11-15T21:32:00.002-06:00

we will be flying to Ethiopia to meet our son Jonah Tyler. I feel very under prepared for this trip in many ways. Emotionally I am struggling to come to terms with all of the feelings swirling around in my heart. I am worried about traveling half way around the world without my kids. I am excited about meeting Jonah and getting to hold him after eleven months of looking at his picture. I am heartbroken that I will have to leave him there for another month before he can come home. I am anxious about getting everything done before we leave.

Tonight I mostly feel humbled and broken before my Savior. After we lost Elijah my anger towards God was so big I could not bring myself to even talk to Him. And now as I sit here five days away from seeing Jonah, I am overcome by God's grace and love for me. That He would continue to love me despite my small understanding of His greatness leaves me breathless.

This last week I have been blessed by Micah and Hannah. They are the two most amazing children. As I am preparing to leave for our trip, they too are preparing for us to be gone. Hannah has started acting out a bit in the last couple of days, as if going back to a time when she was unsure of my love for her. Micah is again becoming the parent. He is more helpful and independent than I have seen in a long while. I can see them getting their hearts ready for us to be gone. Their old defenses that served them well in the orphanage are surfacing again. I am thankful for the awareness of their instincts so that I am able to look past all of it and give them the love they need right now.

We would all appreciate your prayers as we embark on our journey to bring Jonah Tyler home.

A New Creation

2010-10-18T07:45:00.002-06:00

I love Fall. It is one of my favorite things about living in Tennessee. Driving down the road seeing all of the fall colors is breath taking to this southern California girl who never saw a change of seasons. Although it is beautiful it makes me a little sad to know that colder weather is coming and all the trees will soon be bare.
Fall reminds me of how Micah and Hannah have changed so much in the last three years. Like Fall I enjoy watching them learn new things and have new experiences, but it always makes me kinda sad that their old ways are gone. I often tell my friends that the first Christmas our kids were home I cried a lot. I hated the change that had occurred in them in just four months. In Ethiopia they were so thankful for a bouncy ball, but in America they were overcome by the gimmes searching out the next present to open. I wish they still spoke Amharic, fit in their cute traditional clothes, and were fascinated with light switches. Now they are truly Americanized. They love to watch TV, play Wii, and shop for new things. It seems that the bright leaves of Fall leave just as quickly as they came. Micah and Hannah came to us quicker than we expected, now their childhood is moving just as quickly. If I look closely I can still see remnants of Ethiopia in them such as their love of playing outside, eating Ethiopian food, and their incredible bond with one another. I miss who they were when we first met, but now I treasure who God is growing them to be.

Help an Orphan!!!

2010-09-11T16:22:00.001-06:00

Bracelets are hand made using Ethiopian beads. Each bracelet is $20. Proceeds go directly into our adoption travel account! There are two ways to order a bracelet:

1) Click on the “DONATE” button in the right sidebar. The DONATE button takes you to pay through paypal. MAKE SURE YOU LET ME KNOW WHAT SIZE BRACELET (SM, M, or L) AND YOUR ADDRESS SO I CAN MAIL IT TO YOU!

2) Checks or cash – If you’re local, just leave a comment and let me know your size, and I’ll meet with you to make the exchange!

Remember each donation gets us closer to bringing Baby Jonah home! Thank you!

Email me with any questions at stacey@kkneeshaw.com

Money

2010-09-11T15:57:00.002-06:00

A couple weeks ago I got on a new kick probably because travel to Ethiopia is looming before us. I am more motivated than I have been in my married life to figure out how to greatly reduce our spending. It is my new obsession. How do you save money? has been the topic of conversation between me and friends for the past several weeks now. I have been learning a lot and wanting to share the knowledge I have acquired.

There are extremes to this concept that I embraced last weekend after having several glasses of wine. One that I was ready to do was to go dumpster diving at the grocery store by our house. Oprah had a group of people on her show that did this weekly around the Chicago area. They had tons of unopened food that they recovered from the trash behind the stores. This grossed my husband out, so we haven't done it...yet. However, if anyone sees my car parked behind Kroger late at night come join me and score some free food.

A little less extreme is the pact I made with myself to not buy any new clothes until September 1, 2011. This idea came from The Great American Apparel Diet. As well as the feeling I get when I walk into my huge closet and see all my clothes and I think of those with so little. The worst part is I often think to myself, "I have nothing to wear." I shop to fulfill my desire to have more stuff...which only leaves me wanting more when the high from the last shopping trip has worn off. I have already found myself wearing things that have been lost in my closet for the last couple years. Total yearly savings $1000.

It may come as a shock to some of you to know that I have a lot of grey hair. Because of this every 6 to 8 weeks I spend $150 to get my hair cut and colored. My new perspective has shown me how insane this is. I will begin coloring my own hair and plucking my eye brows the next time my grey hair makes an appearance. Total yearly savings $1200.

I have lots more ideas that I will be putting into place soon.

Ethiopian Bracelets

2010-08-28T21:01:00.003-06:00

92 days

2010-08-20T19:41:00.002-06:00

In 92 days we will get to hold Jonah in our arms for a few treasured hours. Yesterday God placed it on my heart to call our social worker at CWA to see when we could expect to hear about a court date for this fall. I left a message and waited for him to call back to tell me to remain patient. When he called a couple hours later as I was driving to get Micah from school. (Hannah was at home with Kurt after having some dental work done that morning) Our social worker said "It's funny you should call because I was going to call you today." He had the great news that we have a court date for our baby boy. It is on November 24th, the day before Thanksgiving! We will get to meet him for the first time two days prior to that and spend a short amount of time with him. We are thrilled to have a date already. Considering we found out two weeks before we traveled to meet Micah and Hannah, having three months to plan is a luxury in international adoption. We are so grateful to God for this unexpected news.

The goal in the next 92 days is to raise $5000 to cover some of our travel costs. Keep checking back for details, or if you feel led to send a donation to us send me a message.

Court Closure

2010-08-12T15:46:00.002-06:00

Our paperwork was submitted to court the week before it closed. We were hoping to hear about a date for October so we could start planning our travel, we didn't. Ethiopian courts are closed from August 6th through September. For me this is the hardest part of an adoption, when it's all out of our hands and we just have to wait. The courts reopen Sept 28th. Hopefully shortly after that we will get a court date! Pray for the beginning of October.

Some good news is that we got new pictures of Jonah Tyler today. He is so adorable, the cutest baby ever!!! Once we pass court he will legally be ours and we can post pictures of him, cannot wait to share his smile with all of you.

Three years later

2010-07-28T16:48:00.004-06:00

It is no secret that I have STRUGGLED big time with Hannah's hair. I have gone through phases where I love to do it but most the time it stresses me out! It sounds silly I know, how could a little girls hair be difficult? Miss Hannah has so much hair that it does not fit under her bike or horse back riding helmet when it is down. After she has gone swimming, nearly everyday in the summer, it is impossible to comb through even after applying a good conditioner. I have tried to stay in the routine of putting it up in a cute way every Sunday night after a good wash, by Wednesday the cute hair style I spent an hour is gone.

I am not a frilly kind of girl. I have straight hair that requires very little time to do, never learned how to french braid, and my styling products consist of a can of hair spray. I have been maintaining for the past three years when it comes to Hannah's hair. I look at pictures online, get product recommendations from my African American friends, and look at the ethnic hair section every time I walk into Target. Finally last week I found the best blog EVER!!! It is called Happy Girl Hair www.happygirlhair.com/
While my wonderful husband made dinner I sat Hannah down and began to do loose corn rows to prevent hair breakage. I am proud to report after a week filled with horseback riding, swimming, and playing outside it still looks cute!!!!

Getting excited

2010-06-26T14:34:00.003-06:00

Now that our Dossier is safely in the hands of the Christian World Adoption Ethiopian office we are getting more excited about bringing home our baby boy. Last weekend I bought the cutest bedding set for him. It is the Santa Barbara collection from Pottery Barn Kids, just like Micah and Hannah their little brother will love the beach! Later today we are going to start getting all the odds and ends out of his room so we can paint it this week. Currently his room is home to our ironing board, the kids' computer, and Hannah's desk. Pictures will be coming.

We have a name chosen for him, Jonah Tyler, followed by his Ethiopian name which we can still not disclose. We chose Jonah because it follows the "ah" theme we have going with each of our kids' names and we also like the meaning of it. Jonah means "peace" which is fitting for this time in our lives when we are still struggling to find peace after losing Elijah last August. Tyler is my little brother's name. Tyler shares a special connection with our kids because they were all internationally adopted, plus Micah and Hannah adore him just as I know Jonah will. Hopefully everything will move faster than we expect it to and we'll have him home soon.

Dossier-check

2010-05-27T20:10:00.002-06:00

Our Dossier has left us and is on it's way to Ethiopia. It has several stops to make. First it will be going to our courier service in Washington D.C. then it will be authenticated (a process that makes it legal in other countries as well as here). Next to the Ethiopian Embassy, they do something to it-not sure what. After it's week long trip in D.C. it will be mailed to our Agency in North Carolina. They will review it and abroad it will go. After it's long flight over the Atlantic it will be translated into Amharic (the language Micah and Hannah used to know but have now forgotten). Then it will go before the judge as evidence that we are the perfect family for our Aggie. Once the judge says yes, it can go to sleep in a file somewhere in Ethiopia, it will be very tired.

Adoption Update

2010-04-18T20:00:00.002-06:00

Many people have asked us how our adoption is going so here it is:
4/19/10-We are sending our application to US Immigration to get approval to bring an orphan into the country. It usually takes about 6 weeks to approval.

By the end of April-We hope to have all of our legal paperwork (Dossier) ready to send to our agency. Along with this comes a fee of over $10,000. (Not quite sure where it is all going to come from, so buy T-shirts to help us out)

Currently we are applying for grants but they take a while to process and get approved.

The most recent update on how our "Aggie" is doing:
No major medical issues lately but he does have some very serious special needs that will impact him for the rest of his life. We found out recently that there are no surgeries currently available that can help him. Bottom-line is we need to get him home as soon as possible to get him the interventions he needs.

What you can do:
Tell everyone you know about our fundraiser. There will be a new shirt design coming out soon.
Pray that he stays healthy until we can get him home safely.

Eye Opening

2010-01-24T20:00:00.004-06:00

I am taking two classes at Lipscomb this fall towards my Masters in Psychology. I was working on my Developmental Psych class this afternoon when I came across an interesting concept. There is a theory that nature and nurture go hand in hand, they cannot be separated because they each influence the other. The example given in my text was of an African boy that would never be able to discover his genetic gifts because he had no opportunity to develop them. His life is one of survival not pursuing interests or dreams. In the same text the statistics were given that the average Ethiopian earned $300 a year, the average American $33,000. 99+% of Americans can read only 40% of Ethiopians can. What would Micah and Hannah's life would have been like had they stayed there?
Would Micah know how to read? Would Hannah know how to swim? Would they ever have realized all the incredible things they are capable of? Most likely not Micah would be farming or working in his Bio Dad's store, Hannah would have been taking care of little brothers and sisters waiting to have babies to take care of. Opportunity is everything. I am so thankful that their Bio Dad chose to have them adopted. They are going to do amazing things all because he loved them enough to give them a better life than he will ever know.

Adoption Bug Fundraiser

2010-01-14T22:41:00.002-06:00

www.adoptionbug.com/kneeshaw

One step closer

2010-01-14T22:35:00.004-06:00

We are busy doing paperwork and getting the money together to bring home our baby boy. Although we can't share too much, we need to get him home soon so he can get treatment as soon as possible. We appreciate your prayers and help in spreading the word about our adoption. Our first adoption fundraiser ever started today. When you buy a t-shrit 50% of the price goes directly to Christian World Adoption for the adoption of our baby. we are very grateful for any help you can give us in telling your friends and family about our fundraiser. Right now we are almost finished with our home study paperwork and then it's on to the dossier. Micah and Hannah are super excited about bringing home a baby from Ethiopia, of course Kurt and I are too. Thanks for all your prayers and support.

New Hope

2010-01-02T21:09:00.004-06:00

This December was the hardest we've ever endured. We have missed Elijah each day since we lost him, however this December was particularly difficult. My due date was December 11th so we had thought we would be welcoming a new baby home this year. Unfortunately that did not happen and we have been living life without him. We cling to the memories we do have of him and the joy we have that he is with God, never having to experience the pain of this world. We all miss him terribly. Hannah recently wrote in a journal at school that if she had three wishes, she would wish for her baby brother back so she could help take care of him. Micah has been willing to talk a little more openly, telling me that he is very glad that I am still here and that he was so afraid I was going to die. I am thankful to God for leaving me a here a bit longer to be with my other two kids and my amazing husband. I am just so sad that Elijah had to go.

There is good news lurking on the horizon once more. In the middle of a very difficult Christmas we received an email from the adoption agency we used with Micah and Hannah's adoption, Christian World Adoption (CWA). We are working with them again to adopt a baby from Ethiopia. In the email they spoke of a six month old who had some special needs. Due to confidentiality rules I cannot share much other than we are moving forward with adopting him. After several weeks of prayer and thought we are beginning the paper chase for our fourth child. More updates to come including a fundraiser we'll be doing online that is super easy to participate in. We appreciate your prayers and support as we start working towards bringing home this special baby.

Here are pictures from our trip to California over Christmas.

Micah at the airport

Hannah and her cousin, Kaylin at Knott's Berry Farm

Hannah and Micah at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Hannah and me Christmas morning

Maggie (white) came with us on the plane, here she is with her best friend Scooter (black)

August Sucked

2009-09-11T10:06:00.002-06:00

On August 7, 2009 I was in the hospital due to complications with my pregnancy. After being admitted on August 3 with some odd symptoms we endured a horrible roller coaster ride of possible causes for the issues. Finally on August 6th I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia a horrible disease they can't do anything about. We were hopeful I could hang on until our baby had more of a chance to develop, he was only 22 weeks, too young for the doctors to help him survive. On Friday the 7th my health had deteriorated significantly, fearing for my life the doctors made the decision to induce labor. After 13 hours I delivered a "sleeping" boy we named Elijah. He had passed away during labor. I am recovering well and am physically back to normal. Each day is a struggle to move on. We miss him and all the hopes for his future with us. Thank you for your continued prayers as our family endures this storm.

I'm a Slacker

2009-07-28T13:28:00.005-06:00

I cannot believe I have not posted since March. So here's the update on our lives.

We are expecting child number 3. I am pregnant! I am due on December 11h which unfortunately falls right in the middle of finals for my master's program, we're praying that the baby comes early or late, as to avoid labor in the middle of class. We found out recently that we are having a boy. We are thrilled! I don't think any of us could handle another girl at this point. He is healthy and measuring bigger than average, which should be interesting considering my size.

The kids are going back to public school next week. They are in a place that they are both ready to get back to regular school instead o being at home with mom/teacher. Kurt and I are also ready for that transition. Micah will be playing club soccer this year. So our weekends will be filled traveling from game to game. Hannah has discovered a love and talent for swimming. She will be taking more intense year round lessons to prepare for swim team when she turns seven.

Kurt is working very hard, all the time. We are very thankful for his job and that it allows me to be at home. This fall I will return to Lipscomb for my third semester in my professional counseling program. I am very anxious to get back to studying and seeing my friends.

We had a great summer with a trip to San Diego, church camp, swim team, vacation bible school, and soccer. Here are some pics from this summer.

We're doing something right

2009-03-16T15:05:00.003-06:00

The kids have begun soccer practice for the spring season. Thank goodness! Last practice they were on a break when Micah comes over to me and sits on the grass next to my chair. I asked him what was wrong, he was reluctant at first but then told me his teammates were saying bad words. He said he thought they were bad because he had never heard them before. He didn't want to tell us what they were. I told him that he could still hang out with them and not say the words they were saying. I told him how proud I was that he came over to talk to us about it. Micah happily went back and played with his friends!

Having spent a lot of time at the soccer fields, Hannah knows the boundaries well. That same day she was playing with the other little brothers and sisters while the big kids practiced. They were racing across the field, when the other kids got too close to the road Hannah just made a U-turn and headed back to Kurt and I. We told her what a good choice she made by just coming back to us, she was very pleased with herself! :)

A year away

2009-03-10T15:25:00.003-06:00

So I had not been in California for almost a year when the kids and I returned at the end of February for a week visit with my sister's family.

Here are some of the highlights:
1. Appearing to be undisturbed when we hit turbulence (I get nervous when flying)
2. Renting a car by myself for the first time.
3. Not needing a jacket in February.
4. Saying that planes don't crash when asked by Hannah.
5. Watching my sister's kids play so well with my kids.
6. Eating Rubio's
7. Seeing my sister and my mom.
8. Learning about how sticker's are made...very interesting

Here comes the biggy....
9. Not trying to convince Kurt that we should move back to CA, and actually being happy about coming home to TN!!!!

Bella and Molly Sitting in the Tree....

2009-02-15T20:56:00.002-06:00

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T20:33:00.003-06:00

Hannah and Kurt went to a father-daughter dance at church. It was so cute, Hannah was actually nervous about dancing in front of everyone. Of course she got over it and was dancing around the whole time. Micah and I stayed home and watched a movie. He made a delicious pizza. We ended our night with a ice cream sundaes. It was super fun!

Healthy Eating

2009-02-05T20:29:00.003-06:00

So we bring the kids to America and show them all the fast food possibilities. Then we take them away and revert to more healthy eating habits. For example we ditched the Jif and are now using natural Peanut Butter, which I must say is surprisingly good. The kids are saying great things about all the new organic food we're buying now...so far so good. However the other night I made chicken with cauliflower. They were fighting to get it down...although they didn't say it you could definitely tell it was not their favorite dinner we've had. Our diets have been changed for about a week and it seems like I already have more energy through out the day. My next goal is to stop drinking Coke Zero, I'm down to one glass a day.

An exciting day

2009-01-29T21:26:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was very fun! It snowed and the kids made their first snowman. We also got a new puppy, yes now that makes four dogs. She is an Italian Greyhound, she will be under 10 pounds when she's full grown. The kids are having a lot of fun with her.

Hannah did it!!

2009-01-22T15:32:00.003-06:00

She rode her bike by herself today, without falling!!! A little background on this event, Hannah has had her training wheels off since mid summer of 08. She had a couple crazy falls (inches away from her face hitting the curb) and decided she was too scared to ride in the road. She will usually only ride on the grass which she does like a champ, only in a straight line of course. So today, the first day we've been outside in weeks she agreed to try riding on the street. After riding up and down the street several times with my hand on her bottom to give the illusion of me helping, I let go completely and she did it!!! She made it half way down our street with the Maggie dog following her and Micah cheering her on. She didn't want to take any chances though, so she was all done riding for the day after that. Great job bug!!!!

Monday Morning Madness

2009-01-19T10:04:00.002-06:00

Okay so Kurt leaves and the kids start acting up...it never fails. Monday mornings are doubly hard, Kurt leaves which sucks and when the kids wake up they are terrors. The good news: it used to last all day, now we're down to the first three hours of the day. Hopefully we're all done with screaming children who are sitting in their room while their cereal gets soggy and gross.

2009-01-17T17:09:00.000-06:00

Here are the pictures of Hannah's hair.

I'm gonna have to learn...

2009-01-16T20:27:00.002-06:00

Hannah arrived home a year and a half ago with very little hair. Lately it has been more and more difficult for me to deal with. She has beautiful hair, however it is incredibly curly. The process of making her hair presentable each morning is very time consuming. After lunch it is a complete mess again. So we took her to get it straightened...not chemically just with a flat iron. It looks great and is MUCH easier to deal with, however it required Hannah sitting still for over an hour. If you know Hannah that is quite the accomplishment for her. It is sad to think that she'll probably get it wet in the bath in the morning and it will be right back to being curly after all that hard work. I really need to get a good flat iron and products so I can do it at home. I am a bit worried about burning her head in the process...we'll have to see.

Trip to Atlanta

2009-01-12T14:21:00.004-06:00

This weekend we took a family trip to Atlanta. After spending much of holidays with family and with Kurt traveling so much with work we really needed some quality time together. I have been dying to go to the Georgia Aquarium to see the whale sharks. Kurt has also been wanting to visit the Coke-Cola Factory there too. So we decided to make an educational trip out of it. I had spent the past week giving a crash course on ocean life. Having worked in the educational department at Sea World I had a lot of great books and activities to do with the kids. The Coke Factory was great because the kids got to see how things are made and distributed around the world. It was an exceptional tour. Although I think the highlight for them was meeting the Coke-Cola Polar Bear and watching the 4 D movie. Kurt took the coolest picture of the kids and a manta ray. Kurt and I could have sat in front of the large aquarium all day watching the four whale sharks and other fish, I don't think it would have been okay with the kids however.

New Year's Update

2009-01-09T15:10:00.003-06:00

Since I have not posted anything for almost a year, I thought it might be a good idea to send out a little blurb on our last year along with a recent picture of our family.

We have spent the past year adjusting to our new life as a family. It has been especially fun to get to know our kids more. Micah is very funny, while at the same time incredibly compassionate towards others. He is a very patient big brother who has a tendency to be a third parent to Hannah. Hannah is a high energy five year old who is very bright and loves to be the center of attention. They are very entertaining to say the least. They are both speaking English fluently, reading, and asking lots of questions!

Micah excels at everything he puts his mind to. He loves soccer and is anxiously awaiting the beginning of the spring season. This fall we watched his confidence on the field grow as he gained a better understanding of the game. He was also chosen by his art teacher at school to have his artwork displayed in a gallery in downtown Nashville. We bought his piece, of course, and he received his very first paycheck. Micah is the kid who is friends with everyone and goes to great lengths to ensure everyone is included.

Hannah is a fun loving little girl, who is growing up very quickly. She is very determined in all she does. She loves schoolwork! When she sits down to read a new story she will reread a word over and over until she is confident she has it right, only then will she move on. She also played soccer this past fall and proved that she can kick the ball just as hard as her big brother. She is obsessed with all things pink, princesses, and babies. Recently she has said she wants to be just like Mommy when she grows up. She even says her favorite car is a, “very cute blue Pacifica just like Mommy’s.” I’ll definitely be reminding her about that when she’s sixteen.

I have been home schooling Hannah for the past several months and will be adding Micah to my class list this coming week. I love it! I am really enjoying watching them learn and spending time with them. I'm sure there will be regular updates as to how homeschooling is going. Let's just say it is a new adventure everyday.

The Imagination of Hannah and Micah

2008-02-15T16:28:00.006-06:00

Hannah has turned into a typical four year old overnight. She has begun telling these crazy stories. The other day she told us a long time ago she would eat pizza in Ethiopia (FYI there is no pizza in Ethiopia). Micah was sure to correct her as any good big brother would.

They were both playing with their flashlights in the dark living room after dinner the other night. They were trying to catch a tiger that was in Kurt's office eating everything. We told them to hurry up and catch it, they said they were too scared.

Micah and Hannah love to play puzzles, unfortunately we are missing at least two pieces in every puzzle they own. So they figured out that a super big monster comes into the play room and eats the pieces. He's now called the puzzle monster.

Snow Day

On Wednesday we had a snow day from school, and there was really snow on the ground. The school district loves to call random days snow days even if there is no snow. We went outside before even eating breakfast to play in it. The kids who are always cold and say they want to live in San Diego where it's warm, kept saying they were not too cold and could stay out and play in the snow. The funniest part was having to explain to them it was okay to catch the snowflakes in their mouths. Once they asked if it was okay to eat they were running all around trying to catch it in their mouths. Micah kept saying that he would make a big snowman tomorrow when more snow came. He was sad when I explained to him that we lived in Tennessee and the snow would be gone by lunch time. :(

LIfe Has Been Crazy!!!

2008-01-30T16:30:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I have not posted since November!!! Thanksgiving, Christmas, working, and having sick kids threw me off. The only reason I have time now is because my two sick kids are sleeping :)

We'll do the cover each month I've missed in six words or less.

November: New job, Too much, part-time instead

December: Travel, overwhelming, very sick kids

January: busy, maybe moving, another new job

So I'll tell the fun new exciting news. I am leaving my part time job to begin substitute teaching in the county we live in. We are hoping it will lead to a full time position as a special educator. The kids are both loving school. Hannah has been moved up to the big girl gymnastics class, she goes to gymnastics three hours a week and has begun doing hand stands on the real balance beam with assistance. Micah is doing great at school especially math, science, and social studies. His favorite new word is "awesome."

Conversation about dinner:
Micah-Mommy what are we having for dinner?
Me-Chicken with vegetables
Micah-Chicken, AWESOME!

It is so funny, he says it about everything! He definitely learned it at school because Kurt and I use "cool" more than "awesome"

The kids are both sick...again! I have been off work for two days, tomorrow will be day three. Hopefully they will be better soon, I'm starting to get bored and frustrated that the doctors are not able to figure out what is wrong with Hannah.

My new goal is to try to be better about blogging. I am very jealous of my friends blogs so I am going to try to make mine as cute as theirs.

I've been tagged!!!

2007-11-17T13:23:00.000-06:00

Four Things

Four Places I've Lived:
Ramona, CA
Davis, CA
San Diego, CA
Gallatin, TN

Four Jobs I've Had:
Special Education Teacher
Tour Guide at Sea World in San Diego
Bus Driver, UC Davis
Swim Teacher

Four Things I'd Like To Do Before I Die:
Meet my Grandchildren
Travel to Australia with my family
Get my Masters degree
Go on a missions trip to Ethiopia with my family

Four Favorite Desserts:
Birthday cake ice cream with snickers
Chocolate chip cookies
Cookie dough blizzard from DQ
Chocolate milkshake

Four Interesting Facts About Me:
-I have to limit myself when I clean because I will keep finding more to clean and will not stop until it's done. I can spend the whole day cleaning one room if I don't set a time limit. Another part of this is when we go out of town our house has to be totally clean, otherwise I'll be very cranky when we get back.
-I truly enjoy cooking and gardening. Two things I never thought I would like to do.
-In our king size bed, I take up 3/4 of it, while Kurt gets the remaining sliver. I move a lot when I sleep!
-I have to have a glass of water by my bed when I go to sleep, I usually don't drink any of it.

Four Favorite TV Shows:
Survivor
LOST
CSI
ER

Learning English is hard...but very funny!!!!

2007-11-10T15:46:00.000-06:00

Micah loves to build huge lego cars and drive them around the island in the kitchen. Inevitably they crash and break into a bunch of peices. When it happens he started saying, "I know!" This went on for about a week. I could never figure out why he was saing, "I know!" Then one day we were driving down our street, it had just rained so I was driving through the puddles. When the water splashed on the car Micah would say, "I know!" It finally hit me, he was trying to say "oh-no!" So I asked, "Are you saying oh-no?" He smiles and says, "yeah, oh-no." We all laughed!

Hannah has been impressing us with her counting ability. It is to the point where I feel like I have the Count from Sesame Street with me at all times. She has just started counting past ten. To give you an example, today in the car I was smacking my gum (which my Mom hates, but now I'm the mom so I can do it as much as I want), Hannah was of course counting how many times I popped my gum. Hannah: "....nine, ten, elephant, twelve." Kurt and I were laughing so hard. Me: "Hannah it's not elephant it's eleven." Hannah: "elephant, twelve." Me: " no eleven." Hannah :"eleven" Me: "good job." It still sounds a little bit like she's saying elephant.

I've realized there are a lot of English words that sound very similiar. Our poor kids, having to learn such a hard second language. :( At least it's entertaining for us.

Micah and Hannah's First Halloween

2007-11-02T14:44:00.000-06:00

It didn't take long for Micah and Hannah to figure out that Halloween meant candy! They had a great Halloween. We went over to our friends' house, Melanie and Lamont. The kids got to hand out candy with Megan and Maddox, then we all went trick or treating. My absolute favorite picture is of Hannah with the Jason mask on while in her Tinkerbell costume. Hannah loved getting her glitter make up on, where as Micah hated the mustache I drew on him and asked me to take it off. Oh well, Captain Hook shaved that day. :) Micah also went on his first field trip to the pumpkin patch. He had a so much fun playing with all his buddies.

Why are we wearing these????

2007-10-29T12:12:00.000-06:00

So yesterday we offically put the kids in their Halloween costumes. They had ran around the house with them on, but had yet to have all the parts on at once. In preparation for the church Fall Festival we woke them up from their naps to get them ready to go. Micah is Captain Hook (without a hat because when we tried it on in the store he said no and threw it on the floor) and Hannah is Tinkerbell ( without wings because I bought them and now I have absotluetly NO IDEA where I hid them). FYI neither of them have any idea what they are dressed up as. We told them they would get candy, so they were ready to go.

We arrive at the Festival. The kids stand staring at this person in a giant dog costume. They weren't scared just a little suprised. Of course when someone asked them what they were, they got a blank stare in response. Both of them played every game and went on every jumpy thing. They were sure to pick up tons of candy at each booth. Micah went with Kurt to play a tossing game, when he finished he leaned over the candy bin and grabbed as much candy as he could possibly hold... I'm sure there was some rule about how much you could take but no one told him no. Kurt's cargo pants were full of candy because as new parents who have no idea what were doing half the time we forgot a bag to put their candy in...poor Kurt!

Micah was being particularly funny last night. He saw a balloon get let go and go up to God (how Micah put it). He told Kurt he wanted to let his go. So he let it go, Kurt caught it, Micah laughed, he let it go again, Kurt caught it Micah laughed, he took the balloon back walked away from Kurt and said, "Please, Daddy no." Micah let it go one final time and it went up to God too.

good child vs. not so good child

2007-10-22T15:17:00.000-06:00

Kurt and I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. As of Saturday, it did! Hannah has been testing the boundaries again and again. It is just like how she behaved while we were in Ethiopia. We tell her no, and she does it anyway. She spent the majority of her weekend in trouble. Micah on the other hand is being very good. He is of course sure to point that out as Hannah is taking the walk to the time out chair. The worst incident occurred at our agency's annual picnic. We were all sitting at a picnic talbe eating dinner. Hannah thought it would be a good idea to vigoriously shake her head with a mouth FULL of food. Oh yeah, our soical worker was sitting with us. This is an old behavior. She used to do it all the time while we were in country. I started counting, she continued to do it until I got to 2. Thankfully she stopped. I have decided that she likes the attention she gets from having bad behavior. The most frustrating part is that she is so cute, that most people around us when she is acting out think it's adorable. She sucks up all the glances and smiles. UGH!!!!

This morning I was leaving with the kids to take Micah to school. Kurt was working in the office. this is what transpired

I yelled," good-bye Kurt"
Hannah, "good-bye Kurt"
I said," Hannah you don't call Daddy that, you say Daddy."
Hannah, "okay, good-bye Kurt."
Kurt said," You can leave her here in time out."
Me, "Thanks, Hannah go to time out."

So frustrating. Micah just looked at me with raised eye brows as if to say, "oh well."

First Days of School

2007-10-14T15:08:00.000-06:00

Micah's first day of school was October 1st. He was so excited to go! I was way more nervous than he was. :) Hannah's first day at preschool was October 2nd. As you can see she was excited too! They both love school and each other. We have to count down how many days are left until they go to school again. Their teachers both say they are a delight to have in class. Everyone loves them!

Ethiopia Part III

2007-10-08T15:18:00.000-06:00

Day 6- Embassy Day

Embassy day is the day that the U.S. government recognizes your adoption. You dress nicely, wait in a very sad looking waiting room, just to talk to a guy thru a glass window. I was expecting the US Embassy building to look a whole lot nicer than it did. I would show you pictures...but there were no cameras allowed. This was also the first time Hannah had to go into time out. She sat in a corner of the waiting area with me for a couple minutes, shed a few tears, and returned to playing with her friends. The whole Embassy appointment was a lot more uneventful than we originally thought.

Later that day, Hannah found herself in her second time out. This time Daddy put her in it. She was not happy. She proceeded to tantrum for an hour and a half while Kurt held her on his lap. Micah and I played in the room while Hannah screamed. Eventually she gave in and told Kurt she would listen to Daddy. I think everyone within ear shot thought we were torturing her. :) So on this momentous day no pictures, except for Hannah screaming while on Kurt's lap.

Day 7

We went on a sight seeing trip with the other two families who were picking up there kids. We traveled up to Entoto Mountain on a "minibus." The view of Addis Ababa from the mountain was breathtaking. We found out that many of the Ethiopian olympic runners come from the village on top of the mountain. They train by running up and down the windy road. I found the donkeys traveling down the mountain with wood and eucalyptus on their backs to be hilarious. They just followed the road and would trot down with all these branches bouncing on their backs. The heart wrenching part was seeing women with just as large of loads walking up and down the mountain, knowing the very little amount of money they would be paid for their effort.

We toured a beautiful church, said to be where the Arc of the Convenant had been hidden hundreds of years earlier. We also visited a church carved out of rock in the side of hill, the Arc was hidden there prior to moving into the other church they built to house it. Then we traveled down the road to visit the weavers. Men and women work on the weaving machines making different linens to be sold. It takes them five days to make one tablecloth.

This evening we went to dinner with all the families and some of the CWA staff to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant. Micah and Hannah were the only ones not wearing their traditional clothes we had bought them while at the weaver's stores :( Hannah ate a TON of food. I could not even beleive everything she shoved into her mouth. In ethiopia it is custom to feed the people you love. Since you eat with your hands, you are being fed from the other persons hand right to your mouth. So here is Hannah with her little fist over flowing with squishy spicy ethiopian food holding it up to me to eat. Of course you have to eat it all, otherwise it would hurt her feelings. I was sweating...the food was SO SPICY. My stomach was quite upset after that meal. We just let Hannah and Micah eat as much as they wanted because we knew it was the last time they would have Ethiopian food while in Ethiopia. Unfortunately both of the kids were VERY SICK the next day. We learned that we need to put some limits in place with eating otherwise they would make themselves sick.

Ethiopia Part II

2007-09-30T13:38:00.000-06:00

Day 4

We spent the morning relaxing at the hotel. In the afternoon we met our guide/driver Gustacho for a little shopping trip. Driving through Addis Ababa is quite an experience. No seat belts, in a little 1987 toyota sedan with two small children who keep trying to play with the door latches and roll down the windows. There are absolutely no traffic laws in Ethiopia. You can stop in the middle of the road while trying to make a left hand turn, (they drive on the right side of the road like in the US) fail to stop at a light, drive around someone on the shoulder, or just make your own lane if traffic is going too slow. We went to a little shop, basically a small shack the size of a large walk-in closet. As we got there it began to pour! We made it inside. Micah and Hannah were incredibley clingy. They had never been in a store before. The owners served us hot tea and the kids coke. Our kids each took one sip and didn't want anymore :) As Kurt and I were shopping the owners offered the kids different things. I was a little annoyed because we were shopping for other people. We didn't want the kids to think they could have whatever they wanted. Thankfully after showing Micah and Hannah a couple things, they stopped. It was a nice store because they sold so many different items we were able to buy a lot in just one stop. After shopping we headed back to the hotel. I was not feeling well. I eventually figured out I could not drink the tea in Ethiopia. We're not sure what kind it was but everytime my stomach got upset. The smog and crazy driving did not help either. We rested in the afternoon then had traditional Ethiopian food for dinner. The kids love Injera!!!! Hannah asked for at every meal while we were there.

Day 5

We needed to go back to the CWA Care Center to complete our paperwork for the Embassy Appointment on Tuesday. It was a cold rainy day just like most every day was while we were in Addis. The driver came to pick us up at our hotel. It was really fun to see the other families and their kids. We were all so focused on the kids on Saturday we didn't visit much. We enjoyed sharing stories and soon found out that Hannah and Micah were very easy compared to the others those first couple of days. Many of the kids were not sleeping well, others were very quiet. We could see early on that our kids were easy going, and generally happy. It was also neat to see all the kids talking and playing with each other. The care workers enjoyed seeing the kids one last time. There were several friends of Hannah and Micah's who were still waiting for their parents that were really excited to see the kids again. Kurt and I let the kids play and eat lunch with their friends while we finished up our paper work. We had done most of it at home, which made everything go much faster that day.

Kurt had left our backpack on the front porch of the care center while we did paperwork. We came back to put something away in it, Kurt noticed that all the snacks were gone and just the wrappers remained. We then found two small plastic figurines, a dog and a horse. Micah and Hannah had gotten in our backpack and shared the snacks, then they tried to take the toys from the care center home with them :o So sneaky. Eyob told us the kids could take the toys, I said no it was okay they needed to stay here, we had the kids take them back inside. When we returned to the hotel room we found that both the kids had a ball in their pocket from the care center. Whatever! :)

Trip to Ethiopia Part 1

2007-09-18T12:42:00.000-06:00

Day 1
We left Nashville, TN on Thursday August 30th on a small Untied commuter plane headed for Chicago. We had 4 large checked bags full of donations and clothes and 4 carry on bags full of neccessities like paperwork for our US Embassy apointment. We arrived in Chicago to begin a four hour layover. After eating our last American meal for ten days at Chili's we read and talked while we waited for our Lufthansa 747 to leave. We slept a lot on the flight across the Atlantic but did not miss a beautiful sunset over Newfoundland, Canada. We landed in Frnakfurt, Germany on Friday morning at 6 am.

Day 2
Killing time for a 5 hour layover is not fun and the Frankfurt airport had little to nothing to do and barely any seats. Thankfully it was early in the morning and wasn't too busy yet. We found seats and watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Kurt got us a healthy breakfast of McDonald's cheese burgers and fries with soda. Already the food tasted different. Our meal was almost $20. We went to the holding area for our next Lufthansa flight to Ethiopia. It was here we figured out we would be stopping in Sudan to let people off the plane and refuel. We were glad that we didn't know about that sooner, I don't think our parents would have been happy to hear about that stop. We flew on another big airplane to Addis Ababa. On this flight we slept and watched Music and Lyrics.

We landed in Addis Ababa at 9:30pm on Friday August 31st. We got our Visas and exchanged money quickly without any issues. On our way to baggage claim we saw Eyob and Cazzoon our CWA escorts for our stay. They helped us get our luggage and we headed out to the car. I pictures a lot more people outside of the airport begging or wanting to help with our bags for money, but hardly anyone was there. We got to our hotel the Ghion and checked in. I though I would be awake all night anxiously awaiting meeting the kids, however the jet lag got the best of me and we both slept very well.

Day 3
We woke up, got ready (Kurt had to hold the plug for my hair dryer in the wall while I did my hair-he's the best!), and went o breakfast. Breakfast was a buffet provided by the hotel. There were a lot of interesting foods, I ate bread and eggs. We then had to wait until 11 am for Cazzoon to pick us up and take us to the kids. He ended up being late :(

On the drive to the care center it was so exciting to see Ethiopia that the time passed quickly. We arrived and walked up to the gates. Cazzoon told us that our kids were very excited about meeting us, they kept asking him when we were coming. We walked in and two little girls ran up and hugged us. One would not let go of Kurt (it wasn't Hannah) We made our way to the building and opened the door. I saw Micah grinning first and Hannah was right next to him. I hugged Micah then Hannah. Kurt hugged them next. The first couple minutes were ackward. Since they didn't speak English and we didn't speak Amharic we just kinda stood there smiling at each other. Hannah almost immediately was on my lap and Micah with Kurt. Micah loved Kurt's digital watch so Kurt let him wear it. They called us Mommy and Daddy from the first time we saw them. Then the kids all went and washed there hands. Kurt and I followed them. We noticed Hannah walking up the stairs crying. Kurt picked her up. Then a Care worker came and took her from Kurt. She went in the house with her. So Kurt and I just followed up the stairs and sat down to eat. Hannah came back with a smile and a new shirt on. She had gotten the sleeves on her other shirt wet, which is why she had been crying. We all ate lunch together with the other two families there picking up their kids. Afterwards we left and took Micah and Hannah back to our hotel room. We all took a nap.

To be continued...

New American Names

2007-09-16T20:48:00.000-06:00

So I know I promised to post details about our trip to Ethiopia...however a funny thing happened that we just had to share. Kurt and I took the kids swimming on Friday to the YMCA. They both love the water (of course...they're our kids ;)). We have been trying to transition them to their American names, Micah and Hannah. They do respond to both Leyuneh and Nigist (their Ethiopian names) as well as their new American names. Yet they still call each other and themselves Leyuneh and Nigist. This is the exchange that occurred:

Kurt: "Leyuneh come here."
Hannah: "No Daddy, that's Micah."

Not only was it adorable, it was also so exciting that they are really beginning to identify with their American names.

Today Hannah also was referring to herself as Hannah. For example if she wanted the ball to herself she said, "Hannah's quais" or Hannah's ball.

Just had to share.

2007-09-10T16:55:00.000-06:00

We made it home! After 30 hours of travel we are back in Tennessee. Micah Leyuneh and Hannah Nigist are amazing! We are so blessed to have them as our kids. They have been so good in spite of all the changes they have endured. I am planning on doing a play by play of our trip but being jet lagged and sick that will have to wait. Just wanted to show off our kids and to let everyone know we are home safe. I'll write more soon.

We are off!!!

2007-08-29T09:06:00.000-06:00

We leave tomorrow for Ethiopia. Neither of us can fully wrap our minds around the idea of us as parents. It will probably take a couple days with the kids before it sinks in. I think we are as prepared as we can be at this point, as far as stuff we're bringing, I know we'll never be prepared to be parents. :) We have two large bags full of donations, two medium bags with our stuff, the kids things and snacks for while we're there. We also have four carry ons. Luggage tends to get lost on the way to Addis Ababa so we have packed half our clothes and half of the kids clothes in our carry ons...just in case. Today I am taking the dogs to the Kennel for TWO WEEKS!! :( Poor doggies. I know they'll get great care since they stay with our vet. We have Laura (one of our neighbors) getting our mail and watering our plants. Once I drop the dogs off then I need to do last minute cleaning so we come home to a beautifully clean house :)

Kurt has been working very hard. He left for work this am at 5:30. He went in early so he could be back for our meeting with our pediatrician at 4:15 today. He is the BEST husband!!! We are both stressed, we haven't barely been sleeping and our eating habits the last couple days have not been good. We are looking forward to resting on the plane ride over. I will definitely be taking some sleep aid.

We have had the painters here all week working on the bonus room (it looks like a lava lamp, we love it) and the downstairs bathroom (it will have stripes). They are great because I can just leave them in the house and not worry about them. So that has helped a lot...plus our house will look pretty when they're done.

We won't be able to post until we get home. I can't wait to tell everyone about the kids and post there pics. Be praying for us while we are away. Thanks.

2007-08-25T13:40:00.000-06:00

Kurt and I with all of our gifts from our shower for Micah Leyuneh and Hannah Nigist.

Preparing to Travel

2007-08-25T13:08:00.000-06:00

Well, the past few days have been spent trying to get ready to travel to Ethiopia. There is such a mixture of emotions. First off it is quite serial to think that in just two weeks there will be kids running around our house. We have prepared for this for so long...I just can't believe we're about to be parents. All of the things we're taking ont he trip are in our downstairs bedroom. I have packed the two huge bags full of donations. We basically have to pack our stuff and the kids things. YEsterday we got our shots for yellow fever and Typhoid fever. My arm was killing me yesterday, I had to take advil the rest of the day. Of course Kurt's didn't hurt at all....figures.

We had our Baby Shower today!!! Our good friends, Melanie, Laciana, and Lena threw it for us. We had it at our house. Lots of people came!!! Most of our neighbors, some people from Mom's ALIVE (Joi, Christine, and Julia), and friends from Northeast. We also had Michael from our chiropractor's office join us. She's very sweet. :) We got so many wonderful gifts. We definitely have the basics we need for when the kids come home.

No HOTEL YET!!!!! Unfortunately we have yet to find a place to stay in Addis Ababa. It is totally stressing me out. Kurt feels like we have enough people working on finding us lodging that it will work out. We are praying it does. I can't imagine that our agency would send us to Ethiopia wihtout somewhere to stay...but who knows.

A week from now we will have our kids!!!!

2007-08-21T12:43:00.000-06:00

Kurt and I on the night we became parents. August 3, 2007

Embassy Date

2007-08-21T12:29:00.000-06:00

Just to update...our court date on August 3rd was successful. We found out via email from Sue Kramer at about 11am on Friday morning. We were thrilled. It was like this huge weight had been lifted off of our shoulders. They are officially ours!!! :) We went out to dinner at Chili's with our friend's Laciana and Chad Hall and their kids Casey and Alexis; Melanie and Lamont Chumbley and their kids Megan and Maddox. We had a wonderful time celebrating our new parenthood.

Yesterday we got the call that our Embassy Date is on September 4th!!!! We will be traveling to Ethiopia on August 30th, in just 10 days we will be on our way to meet our kids and bring them home :) We go through a myriad of emotions. At times we are excited, at other times we are stressed and scared. We know that God has His hands on us and our kids. He has brought us together for a reason. We take comfort in knowing that His plan is always perfect. We ask for your prayer as we get ready to travel. Especailly pray for a smooth transition into becoming a family.

Court Date

2007-07-18T12:34:00.000-06:00

On Monday, July 16th we got some good news and some bad news. Our morning started off with a trip to the orthopedic specialist because Kurt's ankle that he hurt three months ago was still bothering him. Turns out Kurt needs surgery! He tore his achilles tendon more than 50%. After surgery he will have to be in a cast for 6 weeks, a walking cast for 4 weeks and a brace for another 3 months after that. So we were laughing the whole way to the car. I think it was shock that he would be having another surgery.

We arrived home at about 10am. I ran upstairs to check my email. With the adoption..that is all I do. I was so excited because I had received an email from Sue Kramer (our case manager with CWA) the subject read "Court Date." I opened the email and scanned it as quickly as I could. Then I saw it, you have a court date of August 3rd! WE MADE IT!!!! I proceeded to scream at Kurt while running down the stairs. We yelled and jumped, hugged and kissed! Oh my gosh!!! We are really going to be parents. It was crazy! So we figured out that we could be traveling at the beginning of September, right after Kurt got his cast off.

Later that day we had our first appointment with the kids pediatrician, Dr. Ervin. He told us the kids were very healthy. He is a great doctor and we are excited that we found someone so close that specializes in international adoption.

By the end of the day...we were very tired but happy!

Paperwork

2006-12-03T20:35:00.000-06:00

This picture was taken over Thanksgiving. We went back to California to visit family. This is us at the Zoo. Ever since we got back we have been doing paperwork every chance we get. There are so many questionaires to complete that it can be overwhelming but we are trying to take it one step at a time. This week I plan on getting our police clearances done and making our doctor's appointments. If I have a chance I may look into getting myself a passport.
Kurt and I are also spending a lot of time learning everything we can about Ethiopia and adoption. We both feel like we are on the tip of the iceberg as far as collecting information. We are working towards finishing our online course through CHSFS. The course has really helped me to think about aspects of adoption that I haven't thought of yet. We feel like we are walking around the world just a little bit more aware. I am almost done reading "There is no me without you." It is a heartbreaking and amazing story of Ethiopians orphans. I am going to recommend it to our family and friends. I keep wondering where our child is, if they are even alive yet, only God knows.

The Start

2006-11-15T20:09:00.000-06:00

Kurt and I began looking into international adoption in June 2006. We atttended several meetings and did a little research. At this point we were still trying to get pregnant. It wasn't until October of 2006 that we got some hard news about a genetic abnormality we had. This was the point that we decided to move ahead with international adoption, specifically Ethiopia. So we went forward with a lot of prayer and hope that we would be able to adopt a baby soon. We also ordered lots of great books. We are both reading through the books. It is amazing how much we have already learned. All of this occurred as we moved across country. Patience set in again when we had to wait to get to our new home state, Tennessee, to get started with the home study. Thankfully all worked out well and we made it here quicker than originally expected. One week ago we had our first meeting with our social worker. We've spent the last week completing the applications for the local agency and placing agency. Those were sent out two days ago! Our next goal is to get all the Home Study paperwork completed.